That you very much, Jane, for your worthy and sincere effort to try to make sense of out this concept of "spiritual growth."

Saying that spirituality is a "mystical" experience does leave us with with another word, "mystical," that now also needs clarification. We may not be much further along if we substitute one unspecified word (mystical) for another unspecified word (spiritual).

I should say that, so far as I can tell, what people seem to be referred to with either word (spiritual OR mystical) is a feeling of hopefulness--of invigorated trust that the future may not so bleak as one once believed.

Hope naturually is associated with many things that some call "healing"--e.g. things such as solving interpersonal and emotional problems more effectively and confidently-thus the associated idea that hope is "healing," as you understandably say it is, Jane.

I am not clear that anything is really added to the concept of hope, howeever, by using religious terminlogy.

Even if there were something more that is described here other than hope, it is, as you say, Jane, what may be regarded as the application of religion to psychotherapy.

Religion is effectively used by some (patients? or therapists?) as a variation of cognitive therapy, as you say.

If psychotherapists will are using religion as their version of psychotherapy, it may be important for them to also have training in theology and divinity studies since religion is the province of graduates from not schools of psychology but from schools of divinity and theology. Perhaps we will soon see courses in theology and divinity required in graduate programs in psychology?

However, given many religions history of unfriendly attitudes and belief toward the full expression of human sexual expression, I, for one, am concerned that such an admixture of religion and psychotherapy will result in a push for the end of sex therapy per se.

Since many religious persons are already rather attracted to sex-negativity implied in the concept of so-called sex-addiction, we could expect to see something like the application of variations of 12-step religious principles used for a very wide range of sexual matters that patients bring to their therapist-spiritual-mystical-guide.

Religious views of sexuality have typically had an affinity to any approach to human sexuality that regards all but a very narrow range of sexual expression as someting like addictive behaviors--i.e, "out of control," i.e, too "carnal," i.e., not "spiritual." So, to the extent that "spiritual" refers to something in opposition to the "carnal," in opposition to, say, the human being's lustiness, any sex psychotherapist who wants to understand and appreciate the value in the full range of human sexual expression must be concerned about what is going on here with the introduction of mysticism and kindred religious notions into an applied science of human behaivor, in my opinion.